1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sheet supplying device for supplying, for example, sheets to an image recording apparatus or an image reading apparatus, and a recording or reading apparatus for recording images on the sheets supplied by the use of the sheet supplying device or reading images from the sheets.
2. Related Background Art
Sheet supplying devices have heretofore been widely used in image recording apparatuses, image reading apparatuses and other various apparatuses, and various kinds of structure and method thereof are known. As shown, for example, in FIGS. 1A and 1B of the accompanying drawings, a sheet supplying device 1 is disposed above a supply magazine 2 in which a number of film sheets F are piled, and the film sheets F are fed one by one to a pair of rollers 4 while being sucked by a suction unit 3, and is further fed to an image recording or reading apparatus, not shown. The sucker 3 is mounted on a slide bed 5 installed for movement to right and left, through arms 6, 7 and a hinge 8, the arms 6, 7 being engaged with a guide slot 10 in the slide bed 5 through a guide pin 9. The guide slot 10 comprises an upper guide slot 10a and a lower guide slot 10b, and by a guide bar 11 being changed over, the guide pin 9 is guided to a desired side of the guide slots 10a and 10b. When the guide pin 9 is guided to the guide slot 10b, the suction unit 3 is moved toward the film sheets F, and when the guide pin 9 is guided to the guide slot 10a, the suction unit 3 is moved toward the pair of rollers 4.
The sheet supplying device in which the suction unit 3 is thus moved by the utilization of a link mechanism to thereby convey the film sheets F to the pair of roller 4 is often used, and besides this, there is a sheet supplying device which utilizes a cam mechanism.
However, the above-described example of the prior art suffers from the following problems.
(a) Where a link mechanism is utilized, the degree of freedom of the movement of the suction unit 3 is small and therefore, the range of movement of the suction unit 3 must be limited and the pair of roller 4 must be installed near the supply magazine 2. Also, the direction in which the film sheet F is inserted into the nip between the pairs of rollers 4 must be made substantially coincident with the direction of the piled film sheets F and therefore, when a device is supposed which conveys the film sheet F to the image recording or reading apparatus while changing its direction, a number of pairs of rollers 4 and guide plates will be required, and this will lead to the bulkiness of the entire device 5 and increased cost.
(b) Where a cam mechanism is utilized, the range of movement of the suction unit 3 can be widened, but this will lead to the complication and bulkiness of the entire device.